Gadget Freak: LED Message Board

Rich Quinnell, editor in chief of Microcontroller Central, created an LED hand message board to display a message in the air.

Using persistence of vision, the LEDs trace out a message in mid-air when the hand is waved back and forth. Rich got the idea after a reader sent in a picture of himself waving a circuit board with LEDs that displayed a message in the air. He modified the original software so he could have a choice of different messages.

Rich Quinnell's hand message board uses LEDs to trace out a message in mid air when the hand is waved back and forth.

Some improvements Rich suggests are adding a keyboard for an unlimited amount of messages, and to make the one inch of text space bigger so the messages can be seen from further distances.

Jon, thanks. The board does have an accelerometer and it is what triggers the display. It was a challenge, though, separating out the gravity signal from the motion signal. Also, I owe a lot to my blogger Ryszard Milewicz, who started this with a program that displayed the I heart MCC message when he waved it around in his hand. I "featureized" it a bit, adding the multiple message capability and adjusting the display timing somewhat. Oh, and it's my hand.

Hi Rich, Very clever approach to developing a cool embedded product. The method of modifying code to change the product functional behavior is what I discuss with my ITT Tech Electrical Engineering Tech students every class period. I often use this rapid development method for embedded devices and gadgets I create in my home lab as well. Very cool project!!!

Some of my code would make a grown C programmer cry too, RichQ. What some folks might call "spaghetti code" I prefer thinking of as "thinking outside of the box" :) Besides, since I am Italian, the moniker fits in my case LOL

Rather than reinventing the wheel - you simply readjusted it - a great time saver that still took tech know-how - Great job!

Instead of pine, it might be better to use styrofoam. Seams the weight would waer on your wrist after a while. Another improment would be to use a spring steel joint between the handle and the "hand". That way, a little motion would set the hand into action with less strain on the wrist. Just a though for anyone concidering to build this.

The foam is a good idea. I had to make this in short order out of supplies around the house and tried using some springy stuff for the wrist but it was hard to get a consistent movement, so just made it rigid. Not a new idea, I know, but had fun with it.

Communicate furthermore fabricate some communication for some function. Merely throw absent the stages on inferior for desktop advantage, or droop on some barricade or portal also abroad you go. This led beam up telegram council is a grand appendage to some imperceptible partnership, hurdle, dorm opportunity or some arrange where you miss to render a narrative.

My kids had such a toy MANY years ago. You swung this paddle shaped object back-and-forth and it displayed your keyed in text using LED's. In the dark your eyes provided the persistence to make a stable image.

(My youngest is about to turn 39 years old... so this was quite a long time ago.)

I saw a fun one a few years ago for the 4th of July. It was a battery operated fan that would display animation of fireworks when the fan was running. The fan blades were a flex circuit with RGB LEDs that produced the animation. I wanted to say that it was a very cool toy, but that would be an awful pun even if it wasn't intended.

Followers of Design News’ Gadget Freak blogs will have the opportunity next week to take home a wireless remote demo package that can be used to build garage door openers, tire pressure monitors, keyless entry systems, and much more.

The 2015 Gadget Freak of the Year goes to the DDV-IP -- or, a Drink Deliver Vehicle – Inverted Pendulum. The gadget is a two-wheeled self-balancing robot that can deliver cold beverages to thirsty folks on a hot summer day. A wireless RF remote enables manual control of the device beyond the act of self-balancing. All of the features of the DDV-IP result in an effective delivery vehicle while providing entertainment to the users.

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